BACKGROUND: Maternal subclinical hypothyroidism during pregnancy is associated with various adverse outcomes. Recent consensus guidelines advocate universal thyroid function screening during pregnancy. There are no data from Iran about the prevalence of thyroid hypofunction in pregnancy. This study aims to find the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this descriptive cross sectional study, thyrotropin (TSH) was measured in 3158 pregnant women irrespective of gestational age from October 2008-March 2012. If TSH was more than 2.5 mIU/L in the first trimester or more than 3 mIU/L in the second or third trimester, free T4 was measured to diagnose subclinical/ overt hypothyroidism. If serum free T4 was in the normal range (0.7-1.8 ng/dl) the diagnosis was subclinical hypothyroidism and if below the normal range, overt hypothyroidism was diagnosed.
RESULTS: A total of 3158 pregnant women were evaluated. One hundred forty seven of them were diagnosed as hypothyroidism. Subclinical hypothyroidism and overt hypothyroidism were present in 131 (89.1%) and 16 (10.9%) women respectively. Prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism was 4.15%. Most of the subclinical and overt hypothyroidism cases were diagnosed in the first trimester.
CONCLUSION: It appears logical to check TSH during pregnancy due to the observed prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism.
